Weather report: Dry in the Corn Belt

In the West, freeze warnings are in effect this morning across the northern Great Basin and portions of the northern Intermountain region. Some snow is falling in the northern Rockies. Elsewhere in the West, cool conditions are slowing crop development, although dry weather favors fieldwork.

On the Plains, isolated showers and thunderstorms are benefiting summer crops and immature winter wheat. Some of the most significant rain is falling on the southern High Plains, where gradual recovery from last year’s historic drought continues.

In the Corn Belt, dry weather favors late-season soybean planting. However, topsoil moisture shortages remain a concern with respect to pastures and summer crops in many states. On June 3, at least 40% of the topsoil moisture was categorized as very short to short in Missouri (82%), Indiana (56%), Illinois (54%), Nebraska (50%), Iowa (46%), and Ohio (45%).

In the South, precipitation is mainly confined to the southern Atlantic States, where recent and ongoing rains have eased or eradicated drought. Farther west, rain is still needed in the Mid-South.

Outlook: During the next 5 days, rainfall will be focused in two primary regions. Rainfall could total 1 to 4 inches, with locally higher amounts, from the southern Plains into the lower Southeast. Meanwhile, precipitation totals of 1 to 2 inches may occur across the nation’s northern tier, primarily from the Pacific Northwest into the north-central U.S. In contrast, little or no rain will fall through week’s end in the Southwest and much of the Midwest. During the weekend, a short-lived heat wave will begin to affect areas from the High Plains into the Midwest. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for June 11-15 calls for near- to abovenormal temperatures and rainfall across much of the U.S. Cooler-than-normal conditions will be confined to Florida’s peninsula and the Pacific Coast States, while drier-than-normal weather will be limited to the Southwest.